Early Files 5-20-11

PATRIOT FILE PHOTO May 21, 1981 FUTURE ARTIST – Cotuit fourth grader Colin McNutt is one of the participants in the Barnstable Art Show at the Cape Cod Mall.

1841

We see in our exchanges from every quarter, accounts of recent and present cold or stormy weather—the backward state of vegetation—loud cries for a little sunshine—and comparisons of this, with past Springs remarkable for forwardness and promise, all which go to prove how difficult a matter it is to please poor mortals, and liable they are to murmur when not pleased. The season has been cold and rainy on the Cape, as through the country generally, and the vegetable department of mother earth, has not made the same advancements as usual at this time of the spring. And consequently the work of the farmer and gardeners has been delayed. A cold backward spring is no indication of a backward summer and stinted harvest; on the contrary, it has been observed that seasons like the present have been followed by a great abundance “at seed time and harvest.”

1871

Quite a party of our citizens recently enjoyed a clam chowder at Lake Farm. The day was delightful, the breezes appetizing, the chowder unexceptionable, the company in best of spirits, and in fact everything conspired to make the occasion a most enjoyable one. When the next one comes off may we be there.

1901

A letter from Captain Mandley of schooner Mary E. Simmons of New Bedford, dated Brava, Cape Verde, latter part of March, reports having landed 190 barrels of sperm oil. On Jan. 20th, while off Abrolhos Banks, saw whales. Mr. Francis, the mate, struck one, but he had no sooner got the iron into him when he up flukes and hit the mate in the back, breaking the back bone. He died almost instantly, uttering but a few words after the accident. He was buried at sea the next day.

1911

The Boston Record man has been down the Cape and in the course of his preambles fell in with Mr. Ormsby, the station agent at Hyannis and this is what he says: “One of the fastest talkers on the Cape is W. F. Ormsby, the genial baggage master at the Hyannis Station. His fund of knowledge of the central part of the Cape is phenomenal and nearly every newspaper man who visits that region is indebted to him for information bestowed.”

1921

W. J. Babbage, who operates ten candy stores in Greater Boston, is to open a candy store in one of the stores in new Murphy building, opposite the depot. Mr. Babbidge manufactures most of his product and estimates that full ten percent of his Greater Boston customers visit Hyannis during the summer season.

1931

Two Federal agents with drawn revolvers captured two alleged rum runners at Sagamore Tuesday night as well as well as 94 cases of choice liquor, two trucks and a large touring car. The capture took place at Sagamore Heights Beach and was the climax of two weeks of watching. Coastguardsman from nearby Sandwich station assisted in the search which is still being made for a cache of liquor believed to be in the vicinity.

1941

Three soldiers entered a restaurant in a town a few miles from Camp Edwards the other day, and sat side by side at the lunch bar. The proprietor came over and requested them to take a booth at the rear of the establishment. The soldiers indicated that their limited funds presented a problem with a gesture of generosity toward the waitress in the form of a “tip” hence they chose the bar service instead. The proprietor finally induced them to move upon the promise he would wait on them himself; so to the rear of the shop they went. Now the real reason for the move was to get them away from the view of the prospective customers who, peeking in the door might not enter the place if soldiers were seen. Some people get their ideas about soldiers from an actual experience or from what someone has told them, and some people just don’t like soldiers especially “buck privates” because they don’t belong in the same “set.” There you have the snob.

1951

Pageantry, song and dance will highlight the gay Cape Cod Festival of Strawberries to be held in Falmouth, garden spot of Barnstable County. Elaborate preparations for the first festival of its kind ever observed in the “strawberry capital” of New England are moving swiftly along under the guidance of a local committee. Excitement reigns high throughout the community with nominations daily arriving at festival headquarters in the Miss Strawberry Queen contest. Nominations close May 17.

1961

Latest game among the high school set would appear to be “shoot the water pistol.” At least that is what one would presume from the many water pistols in evidence at the high school band parade on Main Street last Saturday. The object seemed to be to see how wet one could get the music of the tooters, or if it is possible, to knock the drum sticks out of the hands of the drummers. Very amusing.

1971

Forty-three pints of blood of the 158 pints given were donated at Monday’s visit of the Red Cross Bloodmobile at St. Mary’s Church in Barnstable by Cape & Vineyard Electric Company employees in the name of Robert E. Ranta. Ranta, 26, was seriously burned last Friday when working on an electric line in Falmouth. Atop a pole at the time of the mishap, the West Barnstable man was helped to the ground by fellow workmen and rushed to Falmouth Hospital for emergency treatment of second and third degree burns over 35 percent of his body.

1981

DPW Supt. Abraham Michaels’ idea of using the sewer-plant waste solids called sludge to fertilize beaches and dunes has not met with universal approval. The beach plan got a slap from the county waste water resources coordinator in a letter to the health agency. Coordinator Scott Horsley wrote un-stabilized airborne pathogens may present health hazards to those visiting the beach in winter. And the pathogens could leach into adjacent water and contaminate shellfish, he said. He saw the same sort of possibilities at the landfill.

1991

The Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission will hold a public hearing at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne to discuss the possibility of Otis as a site for a “Second Major Airport” to supplement Boston’s Logan Airport by the year 2010.

2001

Eugenia Fortes is recovering from surgery on her eyelids. Her vision is blurred temporarily, but she expects to be present on May 24 at Cape Cod Community College’s commencement to receive an honorary degree in civic and community service. “I do what I can and I try to be fair to everyone,” said the last surviving founder of the Cape and Islands Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “I feel that I’m my brother’s keeper.”